


Foggy Nelson and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad, but then Suddenly Better Day

by PixelByPixel



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: And then maybe something more, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Matt Murdock & Foggy Nelson Friendship, Pining, Pre-Slash, Whump, and then some bigger things, lots of little annoying things happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22059742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixelByPixel/pseuds/PixelByPixel
Summary: Foggy Nelson just wants to get to work.Life disagrees.
Relationships: Matt Murdock/Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Comments: 20
Kudos: 121
Collections: DDE’s 2020 New Year’s Day Exchange, Daredevil Bingo





	Foggy Nelson and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad, but then Suddenly Better Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brittlestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brittlestars/gifts).



> This is a gift for [brittlestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brittlestars/) as part of the [Daredevil and Defenders 2020 New Year's Day Exchange](https://daredevilexchange.tumblr.com/tagged/dde2020nyd). Hope you like it! 
> 
> My prompt was "For once, Matt and Foggy have a case that has nothing to do with mob bosses or corrupt cops or ninjas or aliens or alien ninjas. So why is 'normal' life still so complicated?"
> 
> This fic also fills my [Daredevil Bingo](https://pixelbypixelfanfic.tumblr.com/bingo) square for "Foggy's wallet". 
> 
> Many thanks to [titC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/) for the beta. This one was down to the wire, but you still did it! <3

Foggy Nelson’s day started with the alarm.

More specifically, it started with the _lack_ of alarm. Foggy had set it; he knew he had. But somehow he must have un-set it, because he woke up to his phone ringing and then Matt’s worried voice in his ear, and his own personal _feeling_ of alarm. So he got up and took the world’s quickest shower, and for extra bonus fun the hot water wasn’t working, but at least that motivated Foggy to keep the shower short.

Awake, reasonably attired, and only a little frazzled, Foggy stepped out of his apartment and pushed the button for the elevator.

He waited.

He pushed it again. Nothing.

Now, understand that Foggy loved his apartment. Sure, it was small - it was New York, after all - but it had a great view, and the reason Foggy had that great view was that he was on the top floor. There was also rooftop access, not that Foggy specifically needed it; it was just good to know he had it, considering Matt’s tendencies for rooftop activities.

And one of the big selling points for the apartment was the decrepit elevator; this had been the only apartment in Foggy’s price range with an elevator. It carried Foggy all the way down from the top floor of his building every morning, and all the way back up every night.

This, apparently, had changed. His neighbor Rashad came in from the stairs, breathing hard, a cup of coffee in each hand. “Elevator’s out.”

“What? For how long?”

Rashad shrugged and balanced one cup of coffee on the other, then opened his door. “No idea.”

Foggy sighed. He was already late, Matt was waiting, and it was obvious that pushing the button wasn’t going to do anything. So he started down the stairs, thinking that at least going downstairs was the easier route.

He tried not to think about going back up that evening.

He’d nearly reached the bottom when he realized that he’d forgotten his briefcase, which held documents that he needed for court that afternoon.

Foggy Nelson did not often swear. Just then, he found it was required and let loose with a quiet stream of profanity.

At that moment, the stairwell door opened to admit Andy from four and his little girl Jilly.

Foggy ended with one final, satisfying word.

Jilly helpfully repeated that word.

Andy sighed. “Seriously? You know she’s going to say that next time we visit my mom.”

“Sorry.”

Foggy turned to hike back up the stairs, thinking maybe he should have been a butcher after all.

Halfway up the stairs, he realized he ought to let Matt know what was going on. He dialed and Matt answered, and he didn’t realize how hard he was breathing until Matt said, “Uh, Fogs? What are you doing?”

“Stairs. Elevator… is out. Forgot… papers. Will be… more late.”

“… okay, that’s not what I was thinking you were doing.”

“Matty!”

“Just get here when you can, okay?”

“Yeah.”

By the time Foggy reached his apartment, he seriously considered taking another shower, but then remembered the cold water and decided against it, instead grabbing a clean shirt to change into at the office.

He stood at the top of the stairs for a minute, then sighed and started back down. Really, Matt could probably handle the case - it wasn’t anything too off-the-wall, after all - but Foggy didn’t want to just not show up. He knew how much that sucked, after all; that thought kept him going all the way down the stairs, and then to the front step of his building.

It was raining. Of course, it was raining. Why should Foggy expect anything less?

His umbrella was in his apartment.

Foggy closed his eyes and counted to ten, then started walking. By the time he saw a taxi, he was already soaked; he just continued walking, his nice, clean shirt getting increasingly damp.

But, hey, he was getting another shower; this one was actually warmer than the one he’d had at home.

Foggy turned down the alley that he occasionally used as a shortcut. The rain added a damp note to the usual garbage aroma; Foggy kept his head down and watched where he placed his feet as he walked, ignoring the rain running down the back of his neck.

His progress was halted as he ran directly into somebody who seemed like a solid block of muscle. Foggy had been going at a fairly good clip and this guy hadn’t even moved.

“Oh, sorry,” Foggy said, lifting his head and stepping back… directly into an ankle-deep puddle. Awesome.

Unmovable Guy turned, looking understandably pissed off. What made less sense was the scared-looking guy standing just beyond Unmovable Guy. Foggy wasn’t scary, was he? Hey, was he? That was kind of cool.

Unmovable Guy turned the rest of the way toward Foggy and look at that! He had a gun. Wow, this day was getting even better. And that nixed the whole Foggy-as-scary theory, darn.

Scared Guy saw his moment and took off at a run. Unmovable Guy turned as if to chase him and Foggy mentally urged him to go, then felt like an asshole. Still, Scared Guy was fast; he probably would make it, as long as Unmovable Guy didn’t use his gun.

“Son of a bitch,” Unmovable Guy shouted, and Foggy took a moment to appreciate the way the sound echoed in the alley. Was this what it was like for Matt all the time?

Matt would be a helpful person to have in this situation. Sadly, Foggy was certain he was at the office. And from the way Unmovable Guy was glaring at him, he wouldn’t appreciate it if Foggy interrupted the mugging to make a phone call.

“Hey,” Foggy began. “Shitty weather, huh?”

Thunder rumbled overhead and Foggy managed not to look away from Unmovable Guy as lightning followed.

Unmovable Guy didn’t say anything, so Foggy tried, “You want my money? I don’t have a lot, but you can have it.”

Foggy had, in fact, started carrying a decoy wallet after another mugging had gone wrong. Having to cancel his credit cards was a pain, after all. He’d need to invest in another one. But at least this time he knew someone was taking his wallet.

“Yeah,” Unmovable Guy said, gesturing with his gun. “Give me your money.”

“Okay,” said Foggy. “I’m going to reach into my pocket to get it. I don’t have a gun or anything.” Despite that, Unmovable Guy tensed up as Foggy reached into his jacket pocket. Foggy desperately hoped he wasn’t going to end this day with additional holes in his body. That was never fun. He offered the wallet and Unmovable Guy gestured for him to throw it over.

He did, and Unmovable Guy caught it without bobbling the gun or anything, and Foggy was impressed despite himself.

He said, “This your first time?” Unmovable Guy looked at him like he’d just turned bright orange and Foggy hastened to add, “Your first armed robbery, I mean.”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Thought it might be. See, it would be great for both of us if you could let me leave now. You’ve got my money, and there’s no real point to us hanging out, unless you want to go get a beer or something.” It was… Foggy wasn’t actually sure what time it was, but with the day he was having it definitely felt like Beer O’Clock.

“What?” Unmovable Guy just stared at him for a moment, maybe taken aback at his muggee’s suggestion that they go for a beer. Foggy just kind of shrugged, and then Unmovable Guy lunged forward, his gun suddenly digging into Foggy’s ribs as the guy grabbed Foggy’s shoulder. “You’ll go to the cops!”

“Ow! No. No, I won’t! I hate the cops.”

That got him a look of disbelief. “Guy like you, wearing a tie? You hate the cops?” The gun dug in a little harder and Foggy tried to breathe a little more shallowly.

“Yeah, I do. Look. Even if I did, I don’t know your name. Can’t really describe you. You’re just a guy in a hoodie.” Foggy was talking faster, trying to get the words out before the guy made an irrevocably bad decision. “But if you shoot me, people will hear and the cops will get you, and you’ll go from armed robbery to robbery _and_ assault with a deadly weapon.” He was not, definitely _not_ going to mention homicide. “Minimum five year sentence for each of those. Just… let me go.”

Unmovable Guy grimaced at the mention of the prison terms, but then frowned. “You’re a lawyer. Shit.” The gun slowly withdrew, and Foggy inhaled a deeper breath.

“You’re making the right decision,” he began, but then Unmovable Guy lifted his hand and Foggy was on the ground before he even realized he’d been hit. The throbbing pain in his face took all his attention for a few moments, but finally he was able to get to his feet. Unmovable Guy, unsurprisingly, was gone.

Foggy stumbled out of the alley, soaked to the skin, because he had, of course, landed in a puddle in the alley. Just as he turned the corner, a car drove too close to the roadside gutter and sent a wave of water onto him.

Well. At least he couldn’t get more wet. Foggy couldn’t help but laugh as he walked up to the office, and even the relatively few steps had him feeling the burn. The elevator had better be fixed by the time he got home.

He opened the office door and Matt came out from his office, his smile vanishing as he approached. “I smell blood.”

Foggy dropped to a seat at his desk, groaning. “That is so creepy.”

Matt leaned against Foggy’s desk. He had that intense look that never meant anything good. Foggy could tell just from his eyebrows. “Did somebody hurt you?”

For a moment, Foggy considered saying, _No, of course not,_ but Matt would probably be able to tell he was lying. “Yeah. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s no big deal?” Wow, that was loud.

“People hit you all the time, Matty.”

“Yeah, but -” Matt moved closer, definitely into Foggy’s personal space, and lifted his hand toward Foggy’s face. He didn’t touch him, not quite; his eyebrows lifted over the tops of his glasses.

Matt had touched Foggy’s face before. It had been at Columbia, and Foggy was pretty sure alcohol had been involved. Foggy had, well, he’d liked it, had kind of hoped Matt would do it again, but it had only happened the one time.

He cleared his throat. “Go ahead.”

Matt’s fingers brushed lightly across Foggy’s cheek. They trembled just a little: worry for Foggy? He ran his fingers lightly along Foggy’s jaw, then found the small cut at the corner of Foggy’s mouth. Maybe Unmovable Guy had been wearing a ring or something.

“Who did this to you?” Matt said, his voice dangerously quiet, and Foggy felt a frisson of something mostly pleasant. Mostly. He was glad he didn’t know Unmovable Guy’s name, because the last thing he needed was Matt going after some guy with a gun.

“I don’t know.”

“Foggy.” Matt’s hand was still there on his face, gently tracing the edges of the cut. The feeling of it was right on that line between pleasure and pain, and it was all Foggy could do not to turn his head into Matt’s touch.

Speaking carefully so as not to dislodge Matt’s hand, he said, “I don’t usually get introductions from muggers.”

Matt pulled his hand away and Foggy sighed.

“You took that shortcut again.”

“Yeah, because I was late.”

“Foggy, you can’t -” Matt cut off his words, shaking his head. “If anything ever happened to you…” He stepped away, raking a hand through his hair.

Foggy tipped his head back in a silent plea for patience. “So maybe you get how I feel now.”

Matt turned. “No. You definitely don’t feel the way I do.”

“I… don’t? How do you figure?” Matt hesitated and Foggy said, “How do you even know how I feel? Matt, I thought you died at Midland Circle. That was the single worst day of my life, and that includes that day in sixth grade when I didn’t realize that a pair of my mom’s granny panties were sticking out of the leg of my jeans.”

“I’m sor -”

“Yeah, you’re sorry. But you still let me think you were dead. I know you were going through some stuff, but that was a real dick move, Murdock.”

“You’re right.”

Foggy’s jaw dropped.

“I was going through some stuff, but it wasn’t fair of me to put you through that, and to do what I did.”

“Like stealing my wallet.”

“Yeah.”

“But at least you didn’t use a gun, like the guy did today.”

Foggy knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left his mouth. He’d been trying to make a joke, but Matt’s mouth went all tight.

“He had a _gun_?”

“Hey, now, don’t go all Punisher on me.” Foggy laughed, a weak chuckle. Matt did not. “Look, unless we have a radical change in government, there will be guns in this city. I got out of it. He didn’t shoot me. See? I can take care of myself.”

Matt shook his head, looking all intense and broody again. “You have to be careful.”

“I will if you will.”

Matt sighed. “Fogs…”

“I know. You can’t. That’s not who you are. And I don’t want you to be anything other than yourself.” He paused. “As long as that doesn’t get you killed. Again. Okay?”

Matt nodded. “I’ll try.”

That was, Foggy figured, about as good as he was going to get. “I’ll take it.”

Matt leaned closer, and Foggy almost kissed him, like he had wanted to that night at Columbia when Matt had touched his face. But then he got a look at the clock.

“Shit. We have to get to court. Uh, maybe I’ve got a spare shirt here somewhere, so the judge won’t take one look at me and kick me out of the courtroom.” Foggy shifted away from Matt, though with some reluctance, and went over to the closet. The shirt he’d brought was… yeah, not going to work, as it was soaked just as much as the one Foggy was wearing.

“Oh, it got postponed.”

Foggy turned. “What?”

“Yeah, I got the call just before you got here. Judge has the flu.”

“What? You have got to be kidding me.” Foggy went back to his desk and sank into the chair. The adrenaline was finally starting to wear off and the memory of that gun in his ribs hit him hard.

“Hey, what?” Matt asked, stepping closer. “Your heart just did a thing.”

“Still creepy.” But Foggy’s voice was shaking and when he looked down he realized that his hands were, too.

“Hey,” Matt repeated, his hands coming to rest on Foggy’s shoulders. “You’re okay. Right? He didn’t shoot you after all? This isn’t going to be one of those dramatic reveals where your jacket falls open and your shirt’s all red, is it? Because, well, that won’t really work on me.”

“Ha, ha,” Foggy managed. “I… no. No dramatic reveal. I’ve just had a really shitty day.”

“Is part of that shitty day why your jacket is soaking wet?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Matt sat down at Foggy’s desk. “Well,” he said, “Tell me about it. We’ve got time.”

Foggy smiled. For all that Matt drove him to distraction with his self-destructive tendencies, Foggy loved nothing more than moments like this, where he had Matt’s whole focus.

He loved… yeah. He loved Matt. He’d probably known it since that night at Columbia. It had just taken a while to acknowledge it.

“Well,” he began. “It started when my alarm didn’t go off…”

Foggy told the story of his morning and Matt didn’t interrupt once, just made noises of encouragement or sympathy as the occasion demanded. And that was when Foggy began to suspect that Matt might have feelings for him, too.

Foggy’s day had been awful, at least the start of it had. But as he watched Matt listening to him, saw the way he smiled, the way his hand kind of reached for Foggy when he got to the incident in the alley, Foggy decided that his day had taken a turn for the better. And the future? It was looking good.


End file.
